Sore bum to Bologna: Over the top (Part 1)

We got up early since the hot weather finally caught up with us and were on the ferry by 9.30. After a lovely ride along the lake, we finally headed into the hills and the Austrian border. The climbs got steep again and the descents were so steep and long, my brakes really started to screech (need to get that sorted out before the Alps).

At the Austrian border, we crossed the Schwarzenberg Canal, which is a very impressive feat of 18th Century engineering and certainly the smallest canal I have seen in my life. It's 1.9 metres wide and only 35 cm deep!

It was used for 100 years to transport wood from the northern side of the Bohemian forests over the aforementioned watershed and on towards Vienna.

Someone conveniently put up a mirror along the cycle path nearby.

We worked our way through the high woodland until we eventually came to a clearing, which gave us our fist hazy view of the Alps on the horizon (not visible in the photo below) and also presented us with some serious downhill runs (14% plus).

It was a bit of a culture shock arriving in super affluent Austria and paying extortionate amounts for 2 cokes in Schlägl. We also found it even harder to understand the Ösis than the Czechs! But there were generally very friendly, I think.

Just as we felt we'd got the better of the hills, we were treated to the hardest 2 climbs of the trip so far, in which we used all the granny gears our bikes could muster. The heat (32°) didn't make things easier, but the views were absolutely spectacular.

The reward was a 16km downhill ride all the way to our destination, Obermühl and ahh... the River Danube.